Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

Pavilion KL is located at the heart of the KL city , Bukit Bintang area. This is a brand spanking new mall, launched on last October 2007. This 7 level building mall is very big and beautiful, built for for the upper class society. I’ve been here a couple of times. I prefer this mall than KLCC, well maybe because I am already got bored with KLCC, and sometimes KLCC for me is too crowd at week ends, and I like the people and atmosphere in Pavilion better than KLCC.

What I really-really like in Pavilion is a place called Food Republic. Reading the name you can guest what kind of place it is. Yes, this is a place for food lovers where you can taste the wide variety of international and local cuisines. There’s also a one place called JCO Donut & Cofee in Food Republic . The lines are very long all day everyday. To satisfied my curiosity, I waited for 30 minutes and bought a dozen of donuts.

I don’t know what the hype about this JCO Donut, but it taste just like some ordinary donut with the crazy price. I dunno about you guys, maybe you will like this donuts also. But for me it taste just like the other donuts. People went crazy about this donuts and making a long lines everyday. Maybe you should check this JCO Donuts also and tell me about it.

I also like GSC cinemas in here, you can see a brand new movie in here with a very nice dolby surround system. Book addict can also go to the Times Bookshop.
This is one of the most traffic jam area in KL, so it would be better if you take a monorail train than a taxi to go here. Use a monorail train and stop at the Bukit Bintang Station. From there you can walk to Pavilion. Ask people how to go there from Bukit Bintang Station. It is at the front of JW Marriot Hotel. You can check the Pavilion official website here.

Pavilion Video

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From KLIA Airport and LCCT Airport to Kuala Lumpur

There are 2 international airports near to Kuala Lumpur, which is Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). All of the Air Asia airplanes is landed at the LCCT airport and all other international airplanes landed at KLIA. So if you go to Kuala Lumpur by using an Air Asia, 100% guarantee that you will be landed at LCCT airport, but if you are using other airlines company, you will be landed at KLIA Airport.

KLIA Airport
KLIA airport is a big huge airport surrounded by four main cities of Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam, Seremban and Malacca. From here to Kuala Lumpur is about 70km. There are many ways for you to go to KL from here. Using a bus is an economical way, the price is ranging from 10 to 25 one way per person, and there are 2 stop in KL which is Hentian Duta and STAR LRT Station, Chan Sow Lin. These buses available every 30 minutes and it took about 1 hour to go to KL.

Another way is by using a taxi. There are 4 types of taxi for you to pick. They are budget taxi (4 passengers), premier limo (4 passengers), super luxury (3 passengers) and family service (8 passengers). I only know budget taxi, the price is between RM70 to RM90 depend on which KL you are going to. Make sure that you buy a taxi coupon at the airport first, otherwise they (the taxi driver) will charge you two times the normal price.

The fastest and the convenient way to go to KL is by using KLIA Express. It is located at the ground floor of the KLIA airport. The train is available every 20 minutes from 5 am to 12am. Price for adult is RM35 one way, RM70 return. For kids between 2-12 years is RM15 one way and RM30 return. In 28 minutes this train will take you to the main hub of railway station in KL, KL Sentral.

LCCT Airport
This airport is very small compared to KLIA airport. This is a dedicated airport for the low cost airline company in Malaysia, Air Asia. Actually you can go to LCCT Airport from KLIA airport by bus in 20 minutes and RM9 price, vice versa. Too bad there are still no express train connecting between this airport to KLIA airport. I hope the government will build it, someday.

There are only two way to go to KL from here. Which is by using a taxi and a bus. No express train from here to KL or to KLIA airport yet. Price for the budget taxi is around RM70-RM90 to KL, depend on which KL you are going to. Make sure that you buy a taxi coupon from the airport, otherwise the taxi driver will charge you two times than the normal price. Yes, they will do!

And then the bus, it is very cheap, it’s cost you RM8 to RM9 to KL depend on which bus you choose. Most of the buses will stop at KL Sentral, the main hub of the railway station in KL. From KL Sentral you can go anywhere in KL by using a taxi or train.

If you have time and you don’t want to miss the experience to go to KL by KLIA Express, you still can do that. Take the bus from LCCT Airport to KLIA Airport, it cost you about RM9 and 20 minutes journey. From KLIA Airport, go to the KLIA Express station at the ground floor.

Check out the KLIA airport website here, LCCT airport here and KLIA Express here. Check out also the Skybus, this is an Airasia bus services available at LCCT Airport and KL Sentral.

Video of KLIA Airport



Video of LCCT Airport (KLIA)

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Taxi in Kuala Lumpur

For whatever reason I always keep my self away from using a taxi in KL. Taxi in KL for me is the last choice if I don’t have any other transportation. Why? Well, because most of the taxi drivers I have met were mostly rude, never smile and sometimes they don’t want to use the meter. Yes, we have to bargain with them if we want to go somewhere else that they feel too far or have a traffic jam. And also, most of the taxi’s in KL were still using an old car and sometimes smell strange inside.

Don’t expect that you will get a taxi around KL at the rush hour between 7am - 9am or 5pm - 8 pm. All the taxi in KL at that time somehow were disappeared, because they don’t want to be stuck in the traffic jam. Or if you lucky and still can get taxi at that time they will charge you double the price and won’t using a meter! Let me tell you a story about my bad experience with taxi in KL.

I was in a hurry to meet a client at some place in KL. It was 3 pm and all the road was half empty without traffic jam. There are maybe more than 10 taxi’s park around the train station area. Without a doubt I opened one of the taxi’s door and seat my butt at the back. I asked the taxi driver to go to some place (about 5 km disctance), and to my surprise he didn’t want to bring me there. He said that the traffic jam is bad at this time. What, I said, it’s still 3pm!

Feel angry, I asked the other 9 taxi’s driver, again, to my surprise, all of them reject me with the same excuses, traffic jam. I knew my destination area, I’ve been there a couple of times and at 3 PM the road would be half empty and far-far away from traffic jam. Anyway, failed to get the transportation, I called my client and cancelled the meeting that day.

And also, don’t be surprised when you are inside a taxi in KL, the taxi’s driver would stop somewhere else and get another passenger who have the same destination as yours. Yes, you are not the only passenger, you will sit with some strangers. All of taxi’s in this article is a normal taxi, and most of them are using local cars like Proton Wira, Proton Iswara and Proton Saga. If you don’t want to hassle with a bargaining and also don’t want to sit with some strangers, you can get the premiere taxi where most of them do stick to the correct meter charges. Readmore »»

Kuala Lumpur City Center or KLCC

This is the first shopping mall I had visited in Kuala Lumpur back in 2005. I was on my way to Mandarin Hotel which is near to KLCC by using train, and when I stopped at the KLCC station and got out, wow, I was amazed of how well is the transportation infrastructure system in Kuala Lumpur. I just realised that day, that the KLCC Station is exactly under the KLCC shopping mall! Call me an idiot, but I came from Jakarta, Jakarta until now still doesn’t have the railway system like the one in Kuala Lumpur. That’s why I amazed of how well is the railway system in KL.

KLCC is located exactly nestled with the Petronas Twin Towers building, so if you visit Petronas Twin Towers don’t forget to visit this mall also. There are many stores in KLCC ranging from the international brands and local brands. I am a guy, I don’t do shopping a lot, but what I like most in KLCC is the Kinokuniya Book Store, the food court and the cinema. There are also a digital camera stores, but the prices is crazy, I prefer to buy digital camera or digital gadget things at the Lowyat Plaza than KLCC. If you like rock music you should go to the Tower Records, located at the ground level. It’s full of rock music CD ranging from 60’s to 90’s rock era.

If you have a kid or a teenager and they like to learn about science, you can bring them to Petrosains located at level 4 of KLCC. It’s a huge and a cool place to learn about petroleum science and technology in an interactive way, owned by Petronas, the oil company in Malaysia. I have two kids, 4 years old and 6 years old, they love this place so much. I am geek, I love science, I love this place also. I dunno about you guys. For orchestra’s music lover, KLCC also has a world-class Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, you can buy the ticket at Concourse level. I’ve never had a chance to watch this orchestra, so I can’t tell you about this.

If you want to see the work of local and foreign artists in KL, you can go to the Galeri Petronas at level 4 KLCC. When I was there, they showing us an antique photos of Malaysia photographed by some old local photographer, very interesting! Still in walking distance from KLCC you can go to Aquaria, it’s not so big aquarium show. If I compared this with Seaworld in Jakarta, this Aquaria in Kuala Lumpur is very small. If you have had an experience with Seaworld, Fishworld, or other big aquarium show before, I would not recommend this place.

Oh I forgot, there are also a very nice park called KLCC park near to KLCC. It has 50 acre tropical garden, two-acre children’s playground, symphony fountain, wading pool, a jogging track, and it’s free! My kids love the playground so much. Another interesting feature in KLCC Park is a Lake Symphony where two water fountains dancing together start every 6 pm to 9 pm. For photographer, this is a good place to photograph the Petronas Twin Towers. The golden time for photograph the Petronas Twin Towers from KLCC Park is between 7pm to 8pm, because the light from the Petronas Twin Towers is striking beautiful at this time. Bring your tripod.

Getting here is easy. Just take a Putra LRT Train and go to KLCC Station, or take a taxi if you’re far from any train station. You can check KLCC website here, Petrosains here, and Aquaria here.

Video of KLCC

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